


The Keeper of the Pharos Light

by Drogna



Series: The Hunt for the Heart [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Actual History - Freeform, Cats are the best, Gen, Great Library of Alexandria, Kendra and Carter don't get on, Kendra and Rip friendship, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Minor whump, Rip Chat Christmas Gift Exchange 2019, Rip Hunter Needs a Hug, RipFic, Seven Wonders of the World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22269304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drogna/pseuds/Drogna
Summary: When the Legends need to recover an artefact from Egypt they ask Kendra to join them again temporarily. Both Kendra and Rip find themselves getting attached to the people they meet during the mission, but a powerful sorcerer is chasing the same artefact.OrRip and Kendra steal a library book.
Relationships: Rip Hunter & Kendra Saunders, Rip Hunter & cat
Series: The Hunt for the Heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809937
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	1. The Keeper of the Pharos Light

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Rip Chat Christmas gift exchange 2019 for Copperfire. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> I picked "lighthouse", "Kendra Saunders" and "Ancient Rome" as my prompts from Copper's list. I cheated a little with the last of those as this is not Rome, but there are Romans here.
> 
> Chapter 2 is entirely historical notes, because I am that person.

“On the island there is a tower called Pharos, of great height, a work of wonderful construction, which took its name from the island.”

Julius Caesar, Bk III, 112

* * *

“I didn’t think I’d be back so soon, but I’m glad you called,” said Kendra, as she strapped on the belt that held her mace.

It had become her new favourite weapon, Rip noticed. St Roche had been somewhat surprised to find that it now had two winged superheroes living within it, but it had been pleased to have help with the criminal element. Rip pitied any person with ill intent who decided to face up to Kendra and her mace.

They had left Carter behind to continue the Hawks’ work this time. Kendra had explained that they were in the middle of hunting down a particularly pernicious crime syndicate when Rip came to call upon them. The two had decided that Kendra could be spared on this occasion after a brief discussion, so she had agreed to re-join the crew of the Waverider temporarily. The fact that she had decided that with only minimal explanation about the situation from Rip suggested to him that she was glad for a break, and perhaps not everything was going well between the two hawks.

“We needed an expert on Egypt,” said Rip. “You were the best qualified person available to us. Unfortunately, even Gideon’s memory banks don’t contain all the information that we might require here. And of course, we’re dealing with the Legends, so having someone on the ground who knows the lie of the land is always useful in a situation which could easily become chaotic at a moment’s notice. Admittedly, they are getting somewhat better at following instruction.”

Kendra nodded, following Rip across the open ground and towards the entrance to the Waverider.

“What exactly is this all about?” she asked, which he supposed was a reasonable question.

“That’s quite a long story, but let’s just say that we need to go to a library to get a book and I’ll explain the rest once we’re on board and have made our jump,” said Rip, waiting by the ramp into the ship for Kendra to catch up.

Kendra stopped for a moment, seemed to consider that and then she gave Rip an amused look.

“Still keeping secrets?” she asked.

“Not at all. I’d just rather be stood on the bridge with the other Legends before I brief everyone on the mission before us,” said Rip, and indicated for Kendra to go ahead of him.

She raised her eyebrows, still questioning, but she entered the ship. Rip took one last look around to ensure that no one was watching them and followed her inside. He could already hear the sounds of Kendra being greeted enthusiastically by first Gideon and then Sara, Ray, Jax and Martin. Even Mick eventually added a grudging acknowledgement.

The Legends were starting to take their seats in preparation of making the jump as Rip stepped onto the bridge.

“Our course is laid in, Captain,” said Gideon.

“Thank you, Gideon,” said Rip. “I trust we’re all ready? This is a long jump so there may be some side effects.”

Sara made a noise that clearly indicated the disdain with which she viewed Rip’s warning.

“We’re not newbie time travellers anymore, Rip,” she said.

“Sara’s right, this is sort of getting to be routine now,” said Ray.

Jax was nodding, as he took up the engineer’s seat.

“I realise that you are all very used to time travel at this point,” said Rip, with a sigh in his voice if not actually passing his lips. “But two thousand years is still enough to make me feel queasy, so perhaps it isn’t unreasonable to suggest that those of us who have not spent the last twenty plus years training to be a Time Master might also find that they feel unwell.”

He entered the commands to spool up the drive and get them ready to take off, looking at the console rather than turning to speak.

“Noted,” said Martin, “but I’m rather hoping that my excitement will keep the worst of the symptoms at bay.”

“Well, we’re about to find out,” said Rip, and lifted the Waverider off the ground, guiding her into the timestream with an experienced hand.

He let Gideon stabilise his flight through the swirling green of the timestreams. A human could navigate it on their own, but help from his AI meant a smoother ride and less complaints from his passengers. They reached their destination within a few minutes, exiting into bright sunlight and a clear blue sky. The Waverider cloaked itself immediately, because below them lay a city that would be considered ancient by his standards and those of his crew, but here in this time it was new, bustling, and only founded a few hundred years previously.

Rip heard the sound of at least one of his crew emptying their stomach contents onto the floor behind him. He did feel a touch of dizziness himself, but experience told him that it would pass. Instead, he looked out at their destination, taking it all in for just a moment before he got back to work.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the city of Alexandria in 47BC. It is the premier centre for culture and learning in the Mediterranean and has been so for over two hundred years at this point,” said Rip, turning back to the flight data on his readouts. “Now, let’s see about that library book. Gideon, find us a landing site.”

“I believe there is a suitable area to the east,” said Gideon.

“Thank you, Gideon,” said Rip, and turned the ship towards the coordinates that Gideon had provided.

The tall tower of the Lighthouse of Pharos came into view as he turned. It was easily the largest structure in the city, soaring above the rest of the buildings and slightly apart from the main city, set out on the island at the mouth of the harbour. There were three distinct parts to the building; the lower portion was a tapered four-sided building, and on top of that was an octagonal narrow tower which was topped off by a circular turret with open columns. It was clad in white limestone and a fire burnt at its highest point, where burnished copper mirrors reflected the light out to sea and guided ships. The fire was fuelled not with wood, which was scarce in this part of the world, but with oil, which was carried up to the top of the tower on a daily basis to keep the light burning.

On the very top of the tower was a statue that, many years in the future, scholars would argue about the identity of. Rip could have solved the issue for them with the view that he now had, because it was very clear that the statue was that of Poseidon, god of the sea, which fitted well with the figures of Triton that adorned the corners of the lowest, square tier.

“Words fail me,” said Martin, stepping forwards to get a better view. “That is magnificent. And to have built such a structure with only the tools available to them in this day and age.”

“Wait until you see the library,” said Rip, with the slightest of smiles at the scientist.

They passed the lighthouse and flew over the main quarters of the city. In some areas great marble temples rose, in others there were open air stadia and theatres, and at the north eastern corner was the huge palace complex of the Ptolemies with its private port, recently taken over by Julius Caesar while he lingered in Egypt with its young Queen. Wide roads ran through the city, punctuated by carved stone obelisks at even intervals, giving the city a feeling of opulence. The residential areas filled the land between the larger buildings, mostly to the south, and their mix of flat and tiled roofs reflected the three cultures that called this city home. The suburbs were less well ordered and some of the buildings were squeezed in so close that cats could jump between them.

Rip brought them in to land just outside the city, carefully positioning them near an old burial mound, which should be enough to deter anyone from approaching too closely. That wouldn’t last, but hopefully this would be a quick retrieval mission.

“Do I get my explanation now for why you needed to bring me all the way to Alexandria?” asked Kendra.

Rip nodded. “Of course. I should go over the mission for everyone.”

He got up, raising the restraint bar and spinning around in the chair before moving over to the central console, with the Legends following with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Ray looked quite ill, so Rip was going to assume that he had been the one to throw up. Jax blinked as if he was having a little trouble seeing and nearly walked into a chair, but gave a shake of his head and seemed to recover. Sara took a deep breath, perhaps also quelling nausea and eyed Rip as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Come on then,” she said. “How’s an old book going to help us track down Zodiac? And why did we have to come here to get it?”

“I’ll answer your last questions first,” he replied. “The book that we need is generally considered to be lost. By your time, Miss Lance, no extant copies have been located. However, we have documented evidence that a copy did exist in the Great Library of Alexandria at this point. It is mentioned in a fragment of the Pinakes – that’s the ancient catalogue that was used to find books in the library. But, more crucially, it is also mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar that he read a copy whilst in Egypt during his brief dalliance with Cleopatra VII. That leaves us with a narrow window in which we know that the book was in the library for certain and Alexandria is a relatively safe place to visit. Julius Caesar has just completed his defeat of Ptolomy XIII at this point, and most of the fighting is over.”

“Okay, but what’s the book?” asked Jax.

“Ah, it’s called “Ta Peri Tou Okeanou”, which is Greek for “Things About the Ocean”. It’s a geographical text about a journey to the British Isles from the Mediterranean. All my research indicates that it is, in fact, a treasure map to an extremely powerful artefact.”

“What kind of artefact?” asked Martin.

Rip looked up at Martin. He had expected someone to ask the question. Unfortunately, his research hadn’t uncovered that.

“I don’t know,” he said. “All I know is that it’s called the Meros and Zodiac wants it. I haven’t been able to find any pictures of it or even a description of what it does. Its name means “part of a whole”, which suggests that it’s incomplete, but I honestly have no idea what it is a part of.”

“Okay, wait, who’s Zodiac?” asked Kendra, looking thoroughly baffled.

“A powerful sorcerer. She stole a time orb from the vault of an acquaintance of mine…” began Rip.

“Ours,” interjected Sara. “For once you don’t get the blame for getting us tangled up in this mess.”

Rip rolled his eyes. Exactly whose acquaintance John Constantine was didn’t really matter. It was quite bad enough that even one of them knew the warlock, because John was a trouble magnet and that trouble had a habit of transferring to the people he knew, especially his friends. The only reason he hadn’t insisted on joining the Legends on this mission was because Chas wouldn’t let him check himself out of the hospital against medical advice, and Rip had fully supported that position. That Zodiac had managed to seriously injure a magician of John’s ability was an indication of just how powerful she was.

“The point is that she now has the means to travel through time in search of the Meros, and that makes her our problem,” said Rip, pushing aside his concerns for his friend.

Mick grunted. “Should have got trench coat to clean up his own mess.”

“Yes, well, past experience tells me that would not have been a good idea,” said Rip, knowing that John would definitely have tried it if they hadn’t taken over, probably from his sickbed. “And we are the only people available to deal with protecting the timeline at the moment.”

“Okay, so we have another villain to stop, and I’m glad that you asked me along,” said Kendra, “but I was last in Egypt in 1700BC and this is 47BC. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.”

“I know, but you still have more chance of blending in than any of us. I’m hoping you might be able to draw on that experience and maybe even provide us with a few insights that we would miss otherwise.”

Kendra looked at Rip and then nodded slowly, as if thinking through what was being asked of her.

“Carter and I have been working on tapping into some of my past memories. It’s not exactly something that I can do on command yet though,” said Kendra.

“Even if you can’t manage to tap into those memories, an additional pair of hands will definitely be of use,” said Rip, aware that their adversary was formidable. “Now, Kendra, Martin, and I will go to the library to retrieve the book. Sara, I need you and the others to split into teams and see if you can find any of the usual signs that Zodiac is either here or on her way.”

Sara nodded. “We know what we’re looking for.”

“You’ve encountered her before?” asked Kendra.

“Only once so far and that was plenty,” confirmed Sara.

Rip would have gone so far as to say that once was a time too many, especially given that the team had all sustained injuries from that meeting. Luckily none of those injuries had been as serious as those that John had sustained, and they were easily patched up in the medbay, but luck was all it had been. Zodiac had shown herself to be dangerous and powerful, and she had Rip worried.

“We’ll get her this time,” said Mick, checking his gun was correctly in its holster. “I’ll roast her alive if she tries anything.”

Rip winced internally, not at the idea of violence, although he didn’t like that either, but mostly at the damage Mick’s heat gun would do to the timeline if anyone saw it.

“About that,” he said, tentatively, “because Alexandria is such a pivotal place in the timeline, we will all need to leave our anachronistic weapons and equipment here, myself included.”

All the Legends began to talk at once, and Rip held up his hand.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want us to be responsible for damaging the timeline around this sensitive location. I know we’re already up against it, and the enemy won’t play by the rules that we do, but we really don’t have a choice.”

“But I just got the suit fixed,” said Ray, “and I can always miniaturise it.”

“I’m not leaving my gun behind,” said Mick. “The bitch deserves to fry.”

Rip sighed. “If you take your technology with you then there is a high chance that you will use it and that someone will see you using it. This place is full of some of the brightest scholars of the age. Imagine what might happen if one of them sees a heat gun and suddenly has the idea to create a steam engine or a firearm or any one of a myriad things that shouldn’t be invented for hundreds of years.”

“The Captain has a point,” said Martin. “This is a seat of learning, and agile minds abound.”

“I’m glad someone can see sense,” said Rip, crossly.

“Knives are fine though, right?” checked Sara.

“Yes, Sara, knives are fine, as are period appropriate swords, and your staff if you wish to bring it,” said Rip, tiredly. “You’re welcome to ask Gideon to fabricate you any other weapons from this time that you require.”

He really hoped he didn’t regret that comment, because Ray had seemed to brighten at it. Kendra would get to keep her mace at least, although it would still need to be hidden as women didn’t typically carry weapons here. He’d need to raid his own collection for knives but he definitely had some that were from this era or close to it, and he was quite skilled with a knife even if he wasn’t up to Sara’s standards.

“Did you say swords?” asked Mick, in an interested tone that Rip was certainly concerned by.

And the regret had already begun, before they’d even left the Waverider.

***

The streets of Alexandria were the streets she saw in her dreams. Not that these were exactly those streets - they couldn’t be, her life in Egypt had been nearly two thousand years before this, but they were so similar that they seemed familiar. It had been strange to come back to her home country after so many years of living lives in other places. It had been even stranger to find herself feeling like she’d never left.

She felt a little guilty that Carter couldn’t see this too. He would have loved all this history and the images of Egypt that would have evoked their first lives to him. She felt less guilty that she had left him behind in St Roche though. They hadn’t been getting along, no matter how hard they tried to resolve their differences, and she couldn’t see a way out of that. She also was far too aware that if she left Carter then it doomed her to a life of solitude. She was cursed to either be with him or to have tragic love affairs that ended badly, that was her lot. Some things just had to be accepted and maybe some time away from him was a good idea at the moment. It would let her reassess things and maybe find a new way forwards alone. She supposed that Alexandria wasn’t a bad place to do it in either.

The Egyptians spoke Demotic in this place and time. Their written language had evolved from the hieroglyphs that had once been on her temple walls, marching through several increasingly stylising forms until the underlying pictograms were almost untraceable. The hieroglyphs that she had learnt were basically a ceremonial language at this point, used only on monuments, temples and signs for important buildings. It was better than nothing, because although the Waverider’s technology could allow them to understand and be understood, it didn’t give them the ability to translate scripts that they couldn’t read.

Martin had been surprised to find signs carved in Hebrew, but as Rip had pointed out there was a substantial Jewish population in Alexandria. The only language more prevalent than Hebrew was Greek, which was considered to be the language of scholarship in this age. The three cultures of the city seemed to mix freely in the marketplace, although apparently occupied different residential areas. Rip seemed to know some Ancient Greek, which was helpful, but he definitely wasn’t entirely fluent when it came to the written word.

Kendra felt herself absorbing the culture on the walk from the Waverider to the Library, taking in the sights and sounds of the busy city. Merchants shouted, touting their wares, and children ran between their legs. It felt like little had changed over the years of civilisation in this part of the world, and she drank it in.

The trio were all dressed appropriately, with Rip and Martin clothed in the togas of Greek scholars, whilst she wore a dress that was the height of fashion for Egyptian women of the day. Rip had chosen to add a brown woollen chlamys to his toga, which was a loose cloak made from a rectangle of cloth and was pinned to open on one shoulder. That had amused Kendra a little because it reminded her of his coat. Rip always seemed to be most comfortable when he was wearing several layers.

Martin and Rip were being cautious and on edge, perhaps expecting their current adversary to find them in the colourful streets they passed through or at the entrance to the Museion, the complex that the library was part of. Kendra didn’t feel the same tension here, so perhaps it was simply that, for them, this was a foreign location rather than familiar ground.

“It looks more like a temple than a library,” said Martin, gazing up at the columns and statues that adorned the side of the building, and bringing Kendra back to the job at hand.

“There actually is a temple to Serapis in the building,” said Rip. “But this isn’t really the library…”

“This is the Museion. It’s like a modern day university,” added Kendra, hardly realising that she had used the Greek word, and wondering where she’d plucked that information from, “the Great Library is only part of the complex.”

Martin nodded enthusiastically, clearly fascinated by the building and its purpose.

She led them inside, only garnering a couple of looks for being an Egyptian woman accompanied by two male Greek scholars. Alexandria did not bar women from its learning establishments but they still weren’t exactly a common sight. She took them through the cool shade of the colonnades, past gardens and stone seating areas where fierce philosophical debates were taking place. Martin had to be ushered past a few of the more interesting ones about the nature of the cosmos. She felt like she had trod these pavements before, and the feeling became stronger with every step.

The huge library building sat towards the back of the complex. They passed the temple of Serapis on their way to the library entrance, and worshippers and temple attendants conducted their business without paying much attention to the scholars around them. She would have liked to take the time to pay her respects to Serapis, but they were on a tight schedule.

She frowned at that thought. She had been a priestess once, but her gods were not the ones that were worshipped now. She had paid homage to Osiris and Isis and Ra. Serapis was a Greek version of Osiris, put in place by the first Ptolomy to unite the religions of the area. Kendra remembered a sacrifice in this temple though. She remembered standing with her mother as she prayed to the god for the safe return of her father, although she didn’t remember why he needed to be prayed for.

“What is it?” asked Rip. “Did you remember something? We can give you a moment if you need it.”

“It’s this place,” said Kendra. “It’s like the past is lying on top of the present. I think I spent some time here, and my mother and I went to the temple. This temple.”

“Are you sure? I don’t think this temple was built until long after your kingdom in Abydos fell.”

“It really does feel like I’ve been here before,” said Kendra.

She examined the façade of the building, wondering if she could wring anymore memories from her uncooperative mind, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. She was jogged from her thoughts by Martin reaching the steps to the library building.

“It’s a shame that this isn’t a lending library,” said Martin. “I assume that they won’t just give us the book and leave us alone?”

“I very much doubt it. The scrolls are worth a lot of money, and as you know. It’s just as well that there are some notable exceptions to their lending policy,” said Rip.

“You don’t think removing the scroll will disrupt the timeline?” asked Martin.

“I doubt it. Julius Caesar accidentally burns down one of the library’s harbour warehouses in a few days’ time. With any luck it was lost at that point, but we’ll monitor the timeline to make sure. All we need to do in the meantime is get the scroll out of here without causing too much disruption.”

The three of them walked into the dim interior of the building. It had a strange, musty smell to it that Kendra knew was the smell of the papyrus as it aged. The raw material that made the scrolls was allowed to start to decompose slightly in the process of making the large sheets that were needed for writing. It helped the fibres to stick together and form a good surface for the ink to take to. Around her there were shelves and shelves filled with papyrus scrolls. They reached from floor to ceiling, and were divided into square holes with small, stone labels affixed to each shelf. More memories assailed her, this time they were definitely from her first life, of reading scrolls of prayers and prophecies, of Prince Khufu coming to disturb her reading so that they could partake in… other activities.

She took in a sharp breath and found that she’d walked several steps further into the room. She was breathing quickly and now Rip was holding her left arm with concern in his eyes.

“This was a terrible idea,” he said. “I can take you back to the Waverider if you’d prefer not to be here.”

She shook her head.

“No, this is good actually. I want to remember more, to know everything about who I was,” said Kendra.

“I will never be able to forgive myself if you are distracted by a memory and get injured during this mission,” said Rip.

“You need me for this and I will be fine,” said Kendra, quietly. “There isn’t time to change the plan. We don’t know how long we have until Zodiac comes looking for the same thing that we are.”

Rip was still looking worried, but he eventually dipped his head in acknowledgement. He was going to trust her apparently. She just had to make sure that he didn’t regret that choice now, and keep it together.

“Come on,” said Kendra. “Let’s get this done and then I can deal with what I’m remembering.”

“Indeed,” said Martin. “The less time we spend here, the smaller chance that Zodiac will find us.”

Rip met Kendra’s eyes for a moment, silently seeming to check again whether she really was fine, but then he broke eye contact. He approached the table where the librarian sat, near the entrance. From Kendra’s brief observations, it seemed as if there were several library assistants who helped people to find scrolls and then took them to reading desks where they could spread them out and read them.

“This is Chayara. She is a servant of the Queen, who requests a scroll from the library for her guest, Gaius Julius Caesar, to read,” said Rip. “She doesn’t read Greek so I’m here to verify that it is the correct one.”

The librarian looked up at them.

“The Queen sends her compliments to the Head Librarian of the Great Library,” said Kendra, as formally as she could manage.

“Do you have a letter from the palace scribe?” he asked, holding out a hand.

Martin took out the scroll that the Waverider had fabricated from the folds of his toga and handed it over to the librarian. It was a much smaller piece of papyrus than the library’s scrolls were written on. It was rolled tightly, with the red wax seal of the Ptolemies holding it closed. Rip’s research had uncovered that such an item would be needed, although he hadn’t found out what the content of it should be. Kendra had done her best to remember something similar. Between her memory and the Waverider’s databanks, they thought they’d done a reasonable job, but they were about to find out how well they had done.

The librarian examined the scroll, squinting at it.

“It must be Hothar’s day to write the scrolls,” he said, with a definite sigh. “I can barely read this. I don’t know why the palace employs him as a scribe still. His hand is worse than any of my trainees. Does this say Pytheas?”

A young boy, probably only ten years old came dashing through the library, just as Rip was about to reply. He had a leather backpack on his shoulders, and it carried a scroll in it. Martin took a step back to stop himself from being knocked over by the boy. However, Rip was directly in the child’s path and the two collided with some force, sending the boy sprawling to the floor while Rip had to grab for the table to remain upright.

“Good lord, are you both alright?” asked Martin, holding out his hands to steady their Captain.

Rip nodded waving off the helping hands, and turned to the boy, crouching by him on the floor. The child was pushing himself up from his position on the ground, and looked positively afraid.

“I’m sorry, learned scholar,” he mumbled. “I was not watching where I was going.”

Rip held out a hand to help him up, which the boy looked at with trepidation. Rip spoke gently.

“I imagine that hurt you more than me. What’s your name?”

“Hermias,” said the boy.

“I am Anazainos. It is a pleasure to meet you, although perhaps I’d suggest walking in busy corridors in the future. No real harm has been done, but thank you for your apology.”

Rip offered his help again, this time with a smile on his lips to indicate that he wasn’t angry. The boy accepted the hand now, and Rip got him to his feet. He picked up Hermias’ backpack and gave it to him.

“Why were you in such a hurry?” asked Rip.

“I am taking this scroll to my mother and I promised her that I would be back in time for lunch, but I dawdled in the market on the way here,” said Hermias, looking down at his feet with guilt in his eyes. “I need to be home very soon or she will worry.”

“Ah, I see. Then you had best get going,” he said, and reached a hand into the leather purse which was hidden in the folds of his toga. He pulled out a bronze coin and held it out to Hermias. “Perhaps if you buy her a pastry for lunch she won’t mind if you’re late and you can go more slowly.”

Hermias folded his hand around the coin. Kendra knew it was certainly more than enough to buy a pastry, which were only a few obols each.

“Thank you, learned scholar Anazainos,” he said, and dipped his head in deference.

“Hermias!” came a shout, and the boy looked back toward the man who had called his name. “Wait! Your mother asked for this one too.”

One of the library assistants was carrying another scroll. He was probably the same age as Martin and definitely not as fast as the child that he had been chasing after. It took him a moment to catch up.

“Here, you nearly forgot it,” said the library assistant, as he held out the scroll.

Hermias nodded, and accepted the scroll, carefully putting it with the other one in his leather backpack. He flashed Kendra a huge smile when he noticed that she was observing all of this, and she returned it.

“Thank you, Petros!” Hermias said, again almost bowing to the assembled group. “I must get going. Thank you for your kindness.” The boy made sure the backpack was well on his shoulders and then he was off, running out of the entrance way and down the steps.

Kendra noticed that Rip was watching him go, almost unable to look away. The time traveller rubbed at where the boy had collided with him on his hip, almost absently. He had given Hermias his name, or the Greek version of it, and she knew that meant something, although she wasn’t entirely sure what at this point.

Martin frowned. “ _He_ appears to be allowed to borrow scrolls without a letter from the Queen. I thought that wasn’t allowed.”

“His mother is the keeper of the Pharos light,” said Petros, as if that would explain everything. When Martin still looked perplexed, he continued. “It is part of the agreement that she is allowed to take three scrolls from the library every new moon. She normally sends her son these days. It was different when her husband was not at sea, but he is a good boy, well trusted and hardworking. He already knows his letters.”

“Good for him,” said Martin, enthusiastically. “Although he could do with also learning not to run indoors.”

“His mother would like him to study in the Museion,” said Petros, “but she can’t afford it on her wage, so she borrows scrolls for him to learn from. I’d guess it’s geography this month.”

“You have to pay to learn in the Museion?” asked Martin.

“Of course,” said Petros. “Where are you from, learned scholar, that you don’t know that?”

“Ah, erm, Athens,” said Martin, probably picking the first Greek place that popped into his head.

Rip was ignoring the conversation, discussing the scroll they needed with the librarian, and Kendra shuffled slightly closer to the librarian’s table to listen in.

“Yes, Pytheas,” said Rip. “Things about the Ocean.”

The Librarian turned to the catalogue behind him, which was also a series of parchment scrolls in square cubbyholes. He counted along the line and took out the one he landed on. It was unrolled on the table and the librarian skimmed down a long list, some of which had been scribbled out and replace, other parts seemed to be squeezed in between lines. He tapped on an entry with a finger tip.

“Petros,” said the Head Librarian, “could you take this lady and her entourage to Pi and find them Pytheas’ “Things About the Ocean”?”

Petros straightened his back and shook his head.

“I would, but Hermias just took that scroll for Soeris in the light,” said Petros.

Rip whirled around, looking directly at Petros.

“Are you telling me that the boy that just left has our scroll?” he asked, surprisingly calmly.

Petros just nodded, somewhat baffled by Rip’s reaction.

“We have many other scrolls in the science of geography or mapping. I’m sure that the Queen’s guest would be equally happy with any of them,” said the librarian.

“It has to be that one,” said Kendra. “She was very specific. When will they bring the scroll back?”

The Head Librarian shrugged. “They are only bound to return the scrolls in order to receive more. Usually that means they keep them for a moon.”

“That’s too long,” said Rip, more to himself than to anyone else. He turned around and headed for the door, probably already planning their next move, striding away swiftly.

Kendra smiled at the two librarians. “Sorry, he was really looking forwards to reading the scroll whilst it was in the Queen’s possession. Thanks for your help.”

The Head Librarian had already returned to his work, but Petros smiled back and nodded.

“We’re quite used to scholars here. They often have their minds on other things,” said Petros. “Serapis be with you. I hope the Queen isn’t angry when you return without it.”

“I think she will understand on this occasion,” said Kendra, and turned to follow Rip, pulling a baffled Martin along with her.

***

Rip’s very first thought upon seeing the boy, who was apparently called Hermias, was that he was about the same age as Jonas would be now. It was unavoidable to him, even though Hermias looked nothing like Jonas. Where his son had been fair haired and pale skinned, this boy had dark hair and brown skin, and yet his mind still saw a young life and compared the two. His rapid exit from the library had only been partly to try to follow Hermias, whom he now worried was in terrible danger, but he also suddenly felt the need to be alone, away from his companions.

He turned down a narrow street and found himself breathing hard, much harder than his fast walk should have required.

“No,” he said, whispering the word to himself. “I’m not this weak or stupid. It isn’t Jonas. I can save this one.”

He felt tears collect in his eyes and he slumped sideways, using the sandstone wall to support himself. He blinked, unable to see due to the water brimming in his eyes. Tears would get him nowhere; he’d already cried rivers for his lost family and it had done him no good. He put a hand to his face and rubbed at his eyes, angry at himself for being so ridiculous. His son was gone and nothing that he did would bring him back now. But another child was in danger, and it didn’t matter to his heart that Hermias wasn’t his son. The reminder was all it took to send him spiralling into a grief that he thought he’d buried far too thoroughly for this to happen.

He’d said his goodbyes. That should have been enough. He wasn’t someone that couldn’t deal with loss, he’d had plenty. He’d had so much loss that it had almost become routine now, and wasn’t that an indication of just how pathetic his life had become. Pathetic and futile, but he was unable to stop himself from fighting onwards, despite his odds of success. He needed to pull himself together and do what he always did, keep going. He couldn’t save Jonas, but he still had time to stop Hermias from suffering the same fate.

The air cooled around him suddenly. Rip had barely two seconds to realise what it meant, and it was just enough time to stand up straight and fail to be prepared when he was abruptly being shoved into the wall behind him by his shoulders. He felt his spine protest at the mistreatment, as it was pushed up against the unyielding bricks of the building.

He was being attack by a woman in a long, very low-cut red dress that was the colour of dried blood, with pointed features that regarded him derisively. She had hair the shade of black that was reserved for the midnight sky of a graveyard, and her eyes were like holes in the world. It was hard to believe that she was only human, but Rip knew that she was, it was just that she’d spent years gathering objects of powerful magic.

“Where is it?” the woman snarled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” gasped Rip, desperately trying to get enough feeling back into his right arm that he could reach for the dagger in his belt, or even the one secreted behind his back. “Who are you?”

“You feel wrong, displaced, not of this time,” said Zodiac. “I can see your aura around you, so don’t play dumb with me. You came to get the scroll that I’m after.”

She was unnaturally strong, and even though he was struggling, it didn’t seem to have any affect on her grip on him. Rip saw no reason to keep up any kind of ruse at this point.

“You stole a time sphere, so you’re just as wrong,” said Rip. “Whatever you’re doing, I will stop you. I know that you want power and you can’t have it. You don’t deserve it.”

“Since when has power been wielded by those who deserve it? Do you think that Julius Caesar deserved to be given the dictatorship of Rome? Or that Cleopatra deserved the throne of Egypt? No, they were born to power or took it. I could have conquered several hundred such kingdoms by now, by I want the Earth and nothing less.”

“Of course you do,” muttered Rip, with both resignation and anger. “No one ever wants world peace. It’s always “let’s conquer the world”.”

His hand closed around his knife finally and he freed enough of his arm that he was able to slash out at Zodiac. She saw the blade coming, and was fast enough to move that the knife only drew blood shallowly across her arm and didn’t severely wound her. She hissed with pain at Rip, mumbling something under her breath that was probably a spell, and black misty shadows appeared from the clear air. Rip hated magic. The shadows quickly encircled him, shrouding him, blinding him and making him choke. He stabbed at her again, using her previous position to guide him, and he connected with something but he wasn’t sure what.

He couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t see. The mists were darkening and tightening around him, becoming more substantial and blocking his nose and mouth. It was like night had suddenly fallen upon him and was now crushing him to the ground. He stumbled, dropping to his knees, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. His body was making him panic, blood was beating faster in his veins and he couldn’t think well enough to find a way out. It was like he’d been shut in a dark room with no air and no way out. He knew where he was and yet his brain was screaming that he was enclosed, pinned, buried alive in an alleyway in Egypt.

He registered sound from his left, and then a bright flame cut through the darkness, followed by a rush of air and the shadows began to lift. His vision was fading, he couldn’t help but give up the last of his strength and flop to the ground. Then there were further gusts of wind and Rip could see the sun again. He could breathe. He gulped in fresh air, as he lay panting on the ground.

“Rip!” Kendra shouted and he was able to turn his head to see the reincarnated hawk goddess approach at a run, her wings unfurled. He thought he knew what had caused the breeze now. She came running to his side, dropping down beside him, her dress picking up dust from the road.

“Are you okay?” asked Kendra, and she began checking him over.

“I’m fine,” he gasped, trying desperately to ignore the dark spots in his vision. “Get Zodiac.”

“Mick’s already after her and Sara’s following,” said Kendra.

“She knows about the book,” said Rip, rapidly realising that they had no time for him to lie around. “She’ll track Hermias.”

“She doesn’t know who he is. How could she track him?”

“I don’t know!” spat Rip, angrily, “but she found me, and if she can do that then she’s entirely capable of finding a small child.”

Rip made it back to sitting, his chest heaving with the effort to supply oxygen to his starving cells. His back and shoulders ached with bruises from being pressed to the wall behind him. Martin rounded the corner of the street, also panting, but Rip assumed that this was because he’d been running.

“What happened?” asked the scientist. “We lost you after you left the library.”

“Zodiac tried to kill Rip,” said Kendra. “She had a kind of black fog choking him when we found him.”

“It was a magical weapon,” muttered Rip, trying to get up and finding that his legs wouldn’t comply with his instructions.

“Perhaps you should just sit for a moment,” said Martin. “Catch your breath.”

“I don’t have time. Help me up,” replied Rip. “Hermias and his mother are in terrible danger.”

Rip saw the look that Martin and Kendra exchanged but chose to ignore it because they did as he asked and helped him to stand. Sara and Mick came back down the street from the direction that Zodiac must have fled in.

“We lost her,” said Sara. “One moment she was in front of us and then she was gone.”

“More magic,” said Rip, pretending that he wasn’t being supported by Kendra and Martin. He just needed a moment and then he would be fine again.

“She didn’t seem to like it when the flames got too close,” said Mick.

Rip frowned. That was actually interesting information.

“Thank you, Mr Rory, that might be a useful observation,” said Rip, still breathing as if he’d run a marathon. “I believe I did tell you to leave your weapon on the ship, but I’m very grateful for your intervention.”

“Just as well I didn’t listen or you’d be dead,” growled Mick.

“Yes, quite, but how did you find me?” asked Rip.

“We were doing what you said, looking for signs that Zodiac was here. Ray spotted that fruit was rotting in the marketplace, and he remembered the grass dying the last time we met her. We weren’t sure which direction Zodiac was going, so Jax and Ray went one way and we came this direction,” said Sara.

“She must have been replenishing her magical energy,” said Martin. “I find it fascinating that even magic has laws that it must obey. It would make an intriguing study.”

“I’m sure it would, but right now, we have to get to Hermias and his mother before Zodiac does,” said Rip. “If she knows about the book then she may well also go to the library and ask them the same questions that we did. Sara, Mick, I need you to go to the library and protect the people there. Martin, we may well need Firestorm if Mick’s observation about Zodiac is right.”

Martin nodded. “I will locate Jefferson.”

“And us?” asked Kendra.

“We’re going to the lighthouse,” said Rip. “The librarians said that’s where his mother was, so that is where Hermias is going. Let’s just hope that we can get there before Zodiac does. The rest of you should meet us there when you’ve accomplished your tasks.”

Sara gave a curt nod of her head and she took off down the street with Mick following.

“Are you going to be alright?” asked Martin, as he stepped away, leaving Kendra to support him.

Rip was feeling somewhat better as his body adjusted to having a proper supply of oxygen once again. He knew he wasn’t exactly one hundred percent but he was less wobbly now.

“I’ll be fine. A walk will help, I think,” said Rip. “Now, please, we need to move quickly.”

“Of course,” said Martin, even though his eyes still showed concern. He turned and hurried away, back towards where the Waverider was parked, already calling in to see where Jax had got to after failing to find Zodiac with Ray.

“What are we going to do once we find Hermias?” asked Kendra.

“Get the book and leave,” said Rip. “That’s what she wants.”

“You really think it’s going to be that simple?” asked Kendra.

Rip sighed. “Not really, but we can hope.”

He let go of Kendra, testing his ability to stand on his own. He seemed to have sufficiently recovered to walk on his own. At least they wouldn’t have any trouble finding their destination, he thought. Even here, in the centre of the city, the tower could easily be seen. The column of smoke that rose from its top was even more visible, a feature that was very useful to ships during the day.

“Come on, we don’t have much time,” he said, striding as purposefully as he could manage towards the Pharos.

Kendra furled her wings and followed him.

***

The Pharos lighthouse was a quite a walk from the library, and Kendra could tell that Rip was struggling still despite his assurances to the contrary. He was determined to keep going, but occasionally rolled his shoulders suggesting that they were causing him some discomfort. She had rounded the corner of the street to see Rip enveloped in dark shadows on the ground, but she doubted that Zodiac had been gentle with him before that. It seemed equally unbelievable that Rip wouldn’t have put up a fight.

At least flapping her wings had dispelled the darkness and then Mick had chased off Zodiac, but it could easily have turned out very differently. It was reminder that their job was dangerous, and this new foe of the Legends’ was clearly capable of killing.

There was a wide causeway from the city docks to the island of Pharos where the lighthouse was built. It was at that point that they came across a problem. Julius Caesar had captured the lighthouse during his recent battle with Ptolomy, Cleopatra’s brother, and installed a garrison there. Roman soldiers now held the island and causeway, and were being very cagey about allowing anyone to cross.

Kendra and Rip watched several people get turned away from the crossing from their vantage point. The lighthouse had operated as a tourist attraction before this, and people still seemed to expect that they could climb the tower and experience the, no doubt, amazing view from the square viewing platform a third of the way up the lighthouse.

“Maybe we could get a boat and row across?” asked Kendra.

“Not without being seen,” said Rip, putting down a pomegranate on the stall that they were using as cover for their reconnaissance. They were far enough away from the checkpoint to observe it but not attract suspicion.

“We could go back to the Waverider and get some fake papers,” said Kendra.

Again, Rip shook his head. “There isn’t enough time.”

“It’s not like we can take out an entire Roman legion,” said Kendra.

“That’s not a legion, probably only a cohort,” said Rip. “Five hundred men at most.”

Kendra gave Rip a look. Knowing whether it was a legion or a cohort wasn’t really at the top of Kendra’s list of priorities. Whether it was five hundred men or a thousand, it was too many for them to deal with.

“That doesn’t solve our problem, Rip.”

“No, you’re right,” said Rip, looking down the road at a cart that was coming towards them. “But that might.”

“What are you thinking?”

“That cart contains amphorae which I would assume are full of oil for the light at the top of the tower,” said Rip. “I’d suggest we hitch a lift.”

“They’re going to check it,” said Kendra.

“It still needs a driver,” said Rip, pulling out his purse. “I propose we try bribery first, and then force if absolutely necessary.”

Kendra nodded with a slight smile. “And I’ll need something a bit less high status to wear. I don’t think a lady in waiting to the Queen would deliver oil.”

“Indeed. I’ll get the cart while you find a change of clothes,” said Rip.

The two of them split up. Kendra had spotted a stall earlier that had what she needed and it was the matter of a few minutes to select and pay for a linen dress. She ducked behind some baskets of fruit to change, and when she emerged, she looked much more the part. She rolled her other dress into a bundle with the most ostentatious pieces of jewellery that she’d been wearing and tied two ends together to keep it in place whilst she ran to catch up with Rip. She didn’t want to throw the dress away in case she needed it again later. It was much harder to get hold of high-status clothes on the street.

She was just in time to see Rip arguing with the cart driver, who he had managed to persuade to at least stop. Finally Rip gave up and with a right cross, the man was unconscious. Rip knelt beside him and checked his pulse, nodding with approval as he found it.

“Lamentably, he was an honest man,” said Rip. “It’s not often that I say that. He’ll have a headache when he wakes, but hopefully there shouldn’t be any other ill effects.”

Kendra climbed up onto the cart, taking the reins. Rip pulled the driver into a less obvious location at the side of the road, behind some large sacks of grain that were waiting to be loaded onto boats for the trip to Italy.

“Come on, we should get going,” said Kendra.

“I assume you have driven a cart before?” asked Rip, climbing on board.

“Well, I haven’t, but quite a few of my past lives had that experience,” said Kendra. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Rip raised an eyebrow, but indicated with a hand that she should get them moving. Kendra glanced backwards to see that the cart contained several rows of stone jars, all filled with oil and sealed with cork stoppers and wax.

“That’s a lot of oil,” said Kendra.

“It’s probably a week’s worth for the light,” said Rip. “And no doubt we’ll be expected to carry at least some of it to the storage room inside the tower, so that should get us in. We can then make our way to the light keeper’s location. I believe that they should have quarters in the upper part of the tower.”

Kendra found herself tapping into her past lives as she guided the horses expertly down the road and turned onto the causeway where soldiers quickly stepped out to stop them. It was mid afternoon now and the day as at its hottest. Both she and Rip had covered their heads to keep the worst of the sun off, but the Roman soldiers looked rather fed up at their posts. A small hut like structure provided them with a modicum of shade, but that was all, and they had to leave it to check the contents of the cart.

The guard spoke in Latin and Kendra had no idea what he was saying. The translation nanites had not been programmed for that language on this occasion. She turned to Rip with a look of concern, but found him already leaning over to speak to the soldier.

“Est olei, pro igne,” said Rip.

“Pro igne? Video,” replied the soldier, sweating profusely as he examined the jars. “Qualis oleum?”

Rip shrugged. “Nescio. Ego solum libera.”

The soldier grunted at that, and removed a jar from the cart, definitely intending to keep it.

“Tributum Caesari,” said the soldier. “Age.”

Kendra got the message there. The jar of oil was the price of their passage – “tribute to Caesar”. They had also just been told to go, so she took the hint and moved them onwards down the causeway.

“I didn’t know you spoke Latin,” said Kendra.

“It’s rather useful to speak the lingua franca of a large part of history,” said Rip. “I’m told my accent is terrible and I haven’t had much chance to practice lately, but it got us through the checkpoint and that’s all that matters.”

“What did he ask?” Kendra enquired, more because she wanted a distraction from the nerve-wracking task ahead than because she really needed to know.

“He wanted to know what was in the cart so I told him it was oil for the light. Then he wanted to know what kind of oil, probably so that he could decide how much it was worth. I said I was simply the delivery driver and didn’t know,” said Rip. “He seemed unbothered and took a jar as taxes, although I doubt that jar of oil will be officially making its way into the taxes levied in this place. He will probably keep it and sell it, but that is none of our concern right now.”

Kendra looked up at the tower that loomed ahead of them.

“Yeah, our problems are a bit bigger than one jar of oil,” said Kendra. “You realise that this means none of the others are going to be able to join us?”

“I do,” said Rip. “Let’s hope that their presence isn’t required.”

As it turned out, getting into the lighthouse simply cost them another jar of oil and Rip being insulted about his Latin accent. Whilst he hadn’t been exactly happy about either of those, she knew that was mostly for show. The two of them carried a jar of oil each into the base of the lighthouse, and then left them in the storeroom. They didn’t have time to carry them further up the lighthouse, even if that might have improved their cover story.

A huge staircase made its way around the inside of the lighthouse. Kendra couldn’t help but marvel at the work that must have gone into putting it up as she stared up into the rafters of the first part of the building. The Alexandrians didn’t seem to believe in health and safety because there was only a very scant handrail along the outside of the stairs to prevent people from falling to their deaths at the higher levels.

“Shall we?” asked Rip, indicating that Kendra should go first.

Kendra began the climb with enthusiasm, but by the time she had reached the tenth floor, she was feeling the start of the burn of tired muscles in her legs. Rip was flagging behind her, his breaths coming in laboured gasps.

“How many more until we get to the viewing platform?” asked Kendra, between her own tired breathing.

She had considered flying but she couldn’t carry Rip, so he would still have had to climb up the stairs. Also, as they reached the top, beams cut across the space and meant she would have had less space for her wings.

“Sixteen floors, this is the tenth,” said Rip, between gasps for air. “Thirty floors in all.”

That made sense. She had noted that the tapered cuboid of the first tier was more than a third of the tower from the outside. It did not make her feel better though. They still had a long way to climb.

“Let’s rest for a moment,” said Kendra, and Rip just nodded, sitting down on the landing where they were without any protest and just trying to breathe.

Kendra wondered if Rip’s lungs had been damaged by the shadow magic, but she knew there was absolutely no point in suggesting he return to the Waverider now. He wouldn’t go even if they could afford the time for him to make the trip. Rip had clearly decided that Hermias and his mother required his personal protection, and he seemed unusually zealous in that, even for him.

They got going again once Rip seemed to be a little better, and made it to the observation deck floor before they stopped again. There were more Roman soldiers on this level, patrolling around the large open space of the deck, unfortunately neither Kendra nor Rip noticed this until they had left the safety of the staircase.

The Roman soldier who came around the corner and spotted them shouted out something that Kendra didn’t understand, but Rip stopped still and spoke in Latin. Kendra had no idea how they would get out of this situation without a fight. There definitely wasn’t supposed to be anyone here who wasn’t a soldier. Then the door to the next level of the tower opened and Hermias appeared, eating a date. His eyes widened, and he ran in front of the soldier.

“Amices! Amices!” shouted the boy.

“He says that we’re friends,” Rip quietly translated. “Ita vero, sumus amices,” he added to the guards.

Kendra found it hard to hear the next part because both Hermias and Rip were speaking at the same time and she didn’t think Hermias had much Latin at all. He tended to shout out words and drown out what Rip was saying. The guard seemed displeased, but it didn’t appear that he was about to try to attack them so Kendra was going to take that as a win.

Finally, Hermias grabbed a hand of each of them and pulled them towards the door to the upper levels. Kendra found herself taken into the tower and away from the guard in moments, and Hermias shut the door quickly behind them.

Both Kendra and Rip let out relieved sighs.

“Thank you,” said Rip, with feeling, and speaking Demotic once again. “Hopefully he won’t do anything about some friends visiting the lighthouse keeper.”

“It was dangerous to come here,” said Hermias. “The Romans want to keep the tower for themselves and don’t like us having visitors. Whoever is in control of the tower and island of Pharos also controls the harbour of Alexandria.”

“I understand. There has been a lot of fighting lately and it must be quite frightening,” said Rip.

Hermias shrugged. “We keep to ourselves. All anyone cares about us is that the light is kept burning.” His eyes opened wider. “Oh, you must come and meet Mama!”

Hermias grabbed hold of Kendra’s hand and once again she was pulled forwards, this time also up the stairs in front of her. The climb was slightly less arduous this time as the staircase was tighter and they only had to go up five floors to get to the apartment of the Keeper of the Pharos light.

They entered a room through a wooden door on the landing of the stairs. The stairs themselves continued up and round, onwards towards the light at the top of the tower. There was an oil can and various other items required to keep a lamp burning stored on the landing beside the door. Hermias opened the door and led them into a high ceilinged and well lit room.

There were five large windows equally spaced around the sides of the round room that let in the light and gave views out to sea or towards the town. Rich red patterned carpets covered the floors, and swathes of cloth, embroidered with small gold motifs hung from the walls. On the opposite side of the room, there was a place to sit and look out at the view. A small, sandy coloured, large eared cat was curled up on one of the larger floor cushions, snoozing in a shaft of the afternoon sun. On the left side of the room was what appeared to be a terracotta hearth and cooking area, with rustic wooden cupboards that had been painted bright blues and turquoises. A small staircase led upwards to another part of the quarters on the right and Hermias ran to the bottom of this to shout upwards.

“Mama!” Hermias shouted. “I went to see about the oil and we have guests!”

“Hermias, I am working!” a shout returned, “what guests? I am not expecting anyone.”

Kendra once again had the strong feeling that she had done this before. She knew that voice. The staircase creaked as someone began to descend, and a woman with dark skin stepped down to their floor. She was wearing a long linen dress, much like the one that Kendra was wearing. It was the usual dress for a woman who wasn’t a part of the aristocracy. She had very little jewellery on, but she was wearing a narrow, flat gold necklace, like a collar around her neck. Her black hair was braided in a series of tiny plaits and tied back with two gold clips at the tails.

Kendra wondered if she had stopped breathing for a moment, because she remembered this woman. She _knew_ this woman. She took a step backwards and almost tripped over Rip.

“Gramma,” was the only word that escaped her lips. “Gramma Soeris.” Which then brought her to another thought as she looked at Hermias. “Oh no.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Rip.

“That is…” she stammered, looking from the woman on the stairs to Rip. She turned and spoke very quietly to Rip. “I lived in Alexandria. That’s what I’ve been remembering, but not yet. That woman is my future grandmother, and Hermias… he is…”

“Your father in a past life,” finished Rip, seeing that Kendra was unable to complete the sentence. “Bollocks.”

“I’m probably polluting my own timeline. This is bad,” said Kendra.

“It could be worse, and we can’t leave now. I think we just have to ride this out and then get back to the Waverider as soon as possible. It’s impossible for you to avoid all of your past lives, this was bound to happen again sooner or later, and the last occasion didn’t prove to create any noticeable anomalies in the timeline,” said Rip, and also glanced up at the woman. “Now, perhaps we should be polite and introduce ourselves.”

Rip turned back around, his cloak flapping in the breeze from one of the windows which was propped open a little.

“Er, hello, I’m Anazainos and this is my friend, Chayara,” said Rip. “We are very sorry for invading your home, but we are in need of your help. We met Hermias at the library…”

“My name is Soeris. I am the Keeper of the Light. What could you possibly want with me? As you can see the soldiers control the Pharos and there is very little that I can do about that,” said Soeris.

“It isn’t about the lighthouse,” said Rip. “I have reason to believe that you and your son are in great danger.”

“Danger? We have a Roman legion guarding us. Although I suppose that _you_ managed to find your way in,” said Soeris. “Perhaps I should tell my son to be more careful with the friends he makes.”

Kendra saw Rip bite his tongue at the incorrect mention of a legion again, but he valiantly didn’t correct her mistake.

“Mama!” said Hermias. “He was the one at the library. He gave me the coin so that we could have pastries.”

“Ah, now I see,” said Soeris. “Bribery too, as well as trespassing.”

“I invited them in, Mama,” said Hermias, with frustration.

“Is that true?” asked Soeris, her demeanour changing a little. “My son invited you into our apartment?”

“Yes, it is true,” said Rip.

“Then you are guests and should be treated as such,” said Soeris and swept towards the hearth, stoking it back to life under the cowl of a sort of metal chimney that took the smoke outside. “Tea is necessary. Please, sit and make yourselves comfortable.”

“I’m not sure we have time for tea,” said Rip, but Kendra took him by the arm and propelled him towards the large cushions that made up the seating area. The cat stirred from its sleep enough to look at them and indicate that it would not be moving from its spot just for them.

“Gramma always liked to do things properly,” said Kendra, quietly. “It’s better to just go with it, trust me.”

Rip sat down on one of the cushions grudgingly. The cat apparently decided that they were worth investigating and came over to inspect the stranger. Rip reached out to scratch it behind the ears as if this was the most normal thing in the world. The cat settled back down beside him and purred. Kendra tried not to gape at this unexpected way with cats that Rip apparently had.

“That is Kepi,” Hermias said. “She doesn’t usually like visitors but she likes you.”

“There is no accounting for the taste of cats,” said Rip, lightly.

“Hermias, we still need more oil for the light,” said Soeris. “Go down and get a jar for me. Ask the soldiers to help you. They might as well do something useful while they stand around. I will look after our guests.”

“Yes, Mama,” said Hermias, perhaps with slight disappointment. He gave Rip a quick smile that was returned in a manner that Kendra had rarely ever seen from Rip, and then the boy was dashing out of the door and away down the steps.

“He never does anything slowly,” said Soeris.

“No, my own son was equally enthusiastic to go everywhere at speed,” said Rip, still stroking the cat.

“I think it’s universal,” said Soeris, and she brought over a tray with a dish of almonds, cups and a steaming earthenware jug of a herbal tea that smelled of dates and honey. “You said your name was Anazainos? Hermias did mention you. I thank you for the pastries.”

“It was nothing. I didn’t want Hermias to get into trouble because he was late home,” said Rip.

“It definitely helped his case,” replied Soeris, pouring the tea. “Chayara is a pretty name.”

“Thank you,” smiled Kendra. “It is an old, family name.”

Soeris nodded. “I came across it in a scroll the other day. I read an interesting legend about a hawk goddess who had that name and fell in love with a prince of the old kingdom.”

Kendra had been about to reach for a cup and hesitated, her eyes suddenly meeting Soeris’. She wondered if she knew the significance of her words, but it wasn’t possible.

“That’s very interesting,” said Rip, definitely trying to move the conversation on. “We actually came to see you about another scroll. I understand that you are allowed to borrow scrolls from the Great Library.”

Soeris nodded and sipped her tea. “I am. It is a great honour and I have been accorded it because of my position as Keeper of the Light. The position comes with a covenant that the Keeper will be allowed to take three scrolls from the library every new moon, once the previous scrolls have been returned. I think it was thought that the Keeper’s position was so lonely that they would need to have a means of keeping themselves occupied. I am a scholar of sorts so the position suited me well and meant I could also provide for my family. There are many who don’t like the idea that I am a woman, but even more who are unaware of who I am. Why did you say I was in danger?”

“The most recent scroll that Hermias brought you, the one called “Ta Peri Tou Okeanou”, a very bad woman is looking for it. She will stop at nothing to get it. I had a plan to remove it from the library and keep it safe, but Hermias took it out of the library before I could do that,” said Rip.

“As I said, I have a lot of guards at the moment,” said Soeris. “I doubt anyone could get in here if they meant me harm. If Hermias had not declared you to be friends then you wouldn’t have managed it either.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” said Rip, picking up a cup and taking a drink. “This woman is… different.”

“Can we see the book?” asked Kendra. “Even if you don’t want to give it to us, it would help us a lot to see it.”

“How is she different? This woman that is so dangerous?” asked Soeris, not exactly ignoring Kendra but more zeroing in on what she appeared to consider interesting.

Kendra made a decision.

“She has magic. She uses it to gain power,” said Kendra.

“She’s going to think we’re mad!” hissed Rip, in a whisper.

Soeris’ eyes had gone wide. “Magic? What kind of magic?”

“Dark magic,” said Kendra, ignoring Rip. “The kind that hurts and kills.”

The woman nodded. “Like the god Set. Why would you think that I don’t understand magic?” she asked, glaring at Rip. “This is Egypt. There are demons in the water here that stopped the lighthouse from being built until the King found a way to scare them off. We erect vast monuments to the earthly incarnations of our gods and we build statues of the ones that walk the Earth in the form of animals. We know magic.”

She smiled in the direction of Kepi, who was now asleep against Rip’s thigh.

“If the person we are warning you about gets this book, she will use it to locate an artefact that could give her great power. She will use it for evil. We’re trying to stop her,” said Rip.

“Does this woman have a name?” asked Soeris.

“We call her Zodiac, although I don’t know if that is actually her name or just the one she has chosen for herself,” said Rip.

Soeris put her head on one side, as if she was considering something.

“Drink your tea,” said Soeris. “I doubt she will come in the time it takes you to finish. Then I will take you upstairs and we will see about your book.”

Kendra glanced out of the window. The light was changing, and the evening was approaching now. It had taken them some time to get through the guards and climb the tower. She hoped that the other Legends were managing to complete their various errands.

“Very well,” said Rip, reluctantly, and he took an almond from the bowl.

Kepi put out a paw and Rip found himself instructed to resume stroking the cat. He let out an amused huff, put the almond in his mouth and resumed stroking. Kendra couldn’t help but giggle as she finished her tea. It felt quite civilised to be drinking tea and eating almonds whilst watching the sun get lower in the sky over the water.

Once they were done, Kendra helped to clear the cups away. Rip offered to help too but Soeris told him teasingly that he was needed to take care of the cat, which he took quite good-naturedly. He unfortunately had to move Kepi from his side when Soeris took them upstairs to the area which served as her study.

Kendra found her memory informing her that there was another floor above them which served as her bedchamber, with an area that was curtained off for Hermias. She vaguely remembered that her father had talked about living in the lighthouse fondly, but it was only now that those memories were returning. She also remembered that he had been a fisherman, and had loved the water. She was struck with a deep sense of sadness at that thought and was unsure why until she remembered her flashback of being with her mother in the temple of Serapis, praying for his safe return. She now wondered if he’d been lost at sea. Was that young boy they’d met and Rip had clearly bonded with, doomed to a short life and watery death? She desperately hoped that wasn’t the case.

***

Rip knew that they were still up against the clock no matter what his gracious host might say. A few minutes drinking tea might make all the difference to getting out of somewhere alive in his experience. However, he felt that if he didn’t follow her rituals then she’d just stubbornly dig in her heals and refuse to help. He was quite grateful for a chance to rest though, and equally pleased to be taken to Soeris’s study, where she worked on her scholarly papers examining the texts of the library.

Soeris had laid the scroll out on a large wooden desk by the window so that she could read with good light. There were small oil lamps in the room, but the light they provided was poorer than daylight so she explained that she tried to avoid using them too much. Also, her oil for lamps came out of the ration the lighthouse was given, and it all had to be brought up the many flights of stairs, either by hand or by a system of pulleys that brought it up to the viewing deck but no further.

Kepi followed Rip up the stairs, and jumped onto the desk, where she lay down on a small cushion that was obviously hers since it had a good deal of evidence of cat hair on it. Rip reached out to stroke her again, almost without thinking, and once more she immediately began purring. Soeris was clearly amused by this, but turned to the scroll on the table. Rip didn’t mind. He had always liked cats, and he’d learnt that they preferred to do things in their own way and come to people rather than to have people approach. He respected that and even felt that they were kindred spirits in some ways.

“It is a very interesting book,” said Soeris, as she lit one of the lamps. “It talks about a long sea voyage to the North of Europe, to a place called Prydein and then to Thule.”

Rip looked it over. It was written in Greek, so Kendra wouldn’t be able to understand it, unless one of the past lives that she’d yet to uncover decided to come to the fore. Rip could read and write Ancient Greek but, as with his Latin, he was certainly no expert in the language. He had to hope that it would be enough to read enough to verify it was what he was looking for, and then get the scroll back to the Waverider where he could have Gideon scan it into her database and come up with a better translation.

“Prydein would be Britain,” said Rip. “Scholars still debate where Thule might be, but it talks about the “meros” being in the far North on an island.” Rip frowned. “I think it says that the meros is called that because it is part of a star fallen to Earth. Does that seem right to you?”

Soeris seemed to agree. “My reading is that the meros is “the heart of a star, which carries within it the green flame of life”. It says that it whispered to those around it, so it was buried under a magical ring.”

Rip stopped stroking the cat, which led to an annoyed “mrrow”. He turned away, putting his fingers to his lips. He did not like the idea that had just popped into his head, and he was sure there were reasons why it was wrong, but the more he thought about it, the more it fitted. He really hoped that he was wrong though, because this could be a devastating discovery if it fell into the wrong hands.

“What is it?” asked Kendra.

“I’ll tell you later,” said Rip, his eyes flicking over to Soeris, “suffice it to say that if this is what I think it is, we cannot allow Zodiac to get her hands on it. It would give her incredible power. She would be unstoppable.”

“The text seems to give a clue about exactly where to find this meros,” said Soeris, “but it says it is encoded in the text. I haven’t read the complete book yet, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of that.”

Kepi abruptly stood up from her bed as if she had heard something. Then she let out a low growl, flattened her ears and puffed her fur up so that each strand was standing on end. Rip immediately stared at her.

“What’s wrong, Kepi?” asked Soeris.

“Cats can sense magic,” said Rip, looking up. “Grab the book. It’s time to leave. Where’s Hermias?”

Soeris nodded and wound the scroll onto its wooden rod quickly.

“He should be back by now,” said Soeris, a little worriedly.

Kepi hissed towards the stairs. The humans turned to see what she was hissing at and Rip watched as a woman in a red dress walked through the wall. Zodiac had found them. Soeris let out an audible horrified gasp, whereas Rip swore, a series of expletives leaving his lips.

“Soeris, get behind Chayara and I,” he said, and drew his dagger from its sheath at his waist. “If you see an opening, run for it. Find Hermias. Don’t stop, don’t look back.”

Soeris had fear in her eyes, but she acknowledged the instruction. With their enemy at the top of the stairs, only the windows were currently left as escape routes and Rip didn’t fancy dropping six floors to the observation deck.

“Chayara, could you carry Soeris down to the observation deck?” asked Rip, keeping his voice low.

“Maybe I could slow our descent, but we’d still be falling. These wings aren’t meant to carry two,” said Kendra.

“That’s better than nothing,” said Rip, “I’ll hold her off while you get Soeris to safety and find Hermias.”

“That’s suicide,” said Kendra, reaching for the mace at her side.

“You can come back for me,” said Rip, taking up a fighting stance. “Now, go!”

Kendra grabbed Soeris by the arm and propelled her towards the window furthest from the stairs. It was very clear that the Keeper did not want to go, but Kendra opened the window and looked out. Her wings unfurled behind her and it was Soeris’ turn to swear.

“By Serapis, you are the goddess herself. You are the Lady Isis!” she stumbled backwards, now also a little afraid of the hawk-winged woman.

She began to mumble something, perhaps a prayer that was in a language that he could only catch some of. Her words invited the protection of Isis, the hawk goddess, but that was all that Rip could make out.

Rip couldn’t spare time to worry about what was going on behind him. He had to trust Kendra to manage the situation, because Zodiac was now completely through the wall, and her eyes were glowing blue with the power inside her.

“You again,” said Zodiac. “I thought I killed you last time.”

“I think you’ll find that I’m quite hard to kill,” replied Rip.

“If all you have is that puny blade then you will be easy,” said Zodiac, and mumbled words that Rip had no hope of catching.

The dark shadows swirled around her feet like a seething mass of vipers, collecting in nests and then slithering out. Tendrils shot their way towards Rip, and encircled his neck before he could duck out of their way. They picked him up and he felt his feet leave the floor. Rip slashed out with his knife, cutting through the shadows as if they really were snakes and not made of smoke and magic. They reformed after every cut.

“Now, where is my book?” she asked.

“Rip!” shouted Kendra. She flapped her wings and Rip fell to the floor, almost blown away by the gust, but the shadows breaking apart.

“Go!” he shouted, again. “Get out of here now!”

Kendra nodded, apparently making a decision. “I’ll be back for you.”

Rip heard the sound of breaking glass and then Soeris and Kendra were propelling themselves out of the window and he just had to hope that Kendra’s wings were strong enough to slow their descent. Soeris let out a yell of surprised fright, but it didn’t sound like she was falling.

Zodiac moved towards the window, and Rip threw his knife at her in a last, desperate measure. She held up a hand, palm out and the dagger stopped mid-flight. It at least had the effect of making her turn back towards him, and he pulled out a second knife from where he had it hidden in his boot.

“You can’t follow them, little man,” said Zodiac. “Not unless you know how to grow wings too.”

The black tendrils traced their way across the floor and once again they wound themselves around his body. This time they squeezed, painfully squashing his ribcage and making it hard to breathe. He struggled, slashing out, but each time he did so the shadows simply reformed around him. The sorceress moved back to the table and looked at the scrolls that lay there. She laid a hand on each of them, as if she was feeling for something.

“None of these are what I am looking for,” said Zodiac, her eyes narrowing. “She took it with her, didn’t she? The birdwoman or the wannabe scholar? Which was it?”

Her full attention was on Rip now and she raised her palm again.

“You don’t need that little blade,” she said, and twitched her index finger.

Two of Rip’s fingers on his right hand were wrenched backwards, and he let out a yell of agony. He dropped the knife, unable to hold it anymore. He was almost certain that she had just broken his fingers with a mere flick of magic, and he knew what the meant. His time was short.

“I shall only ask once more,” said Zodiac. “Where is my book?”

“Not here,” he replied.

The shadows squeezed tighter around him, and he let out another yell of pain. There was a loud yowl from the table and then suddenly a very angry Egyptian cat had landed on Zodiac’s head. Kepi was trying very concertedly to claw out the woman’s eyes, and she let out a surprised yelp. The shadows suddenly withdrew back to Zodiac’s feet and dropped their prisoner to the ground. Rip saw an opening, and crawled towards the table where he grabbed one of the oil lamps that Soeris had lit earlier from the table. He didn’t want to hurt his feline saviour, so he threw it at Zodiac’s feet. The rug immediately burst into flames, and Zodiac now had two problems to worry about.

“Kepi!” Rip called, as he scooted backwards and away from the flames.

The cat was quite well versed in self preservation it seemed and immediately jumped towards the sound of his voice, leaving a series of horrible scratch marks across Zodiac’s face. He picked the cat up and bundled it up in a fold of his toga, trying to avoid using his broken fingers.

Zodiac screamed and the shadows lashed out in all directions as she tried to get away from the fire. Rip ducked and avoided a shadow tentacle as it smashed past him and into the table legs. He failed to get out of the way of the next one, and was sent sliding backwards, which was followed by a blow to his shoulder from another of the shadowy tentacles. This one unbalanced him and before he could stop himself he was flying through the air towards the window that Kendra had taken Soeris out of. He grabbed wildly for the sill and caught it, only for his grip to fail when his broken fingers came into contact with the masonry. He fell downwards, scrabbling to get another hold with his good hand. He caught the windowsill below, jarring his shoulder badly in the process but for a few moments he could hold on and so he did.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at the cat who was also clinging on for dear life with its claws embedded in the fabric of his toga. “I’d suggest getting up on the window here. At least you won’t die from the fall.”

Kepi looked distinctly unimpressed with that idea. She mrrowed at him and then looked behind and to his left. He felt the breeze of Kendra’s wings and let out a sigh of relief.

“Hold on, I’ve got you,” said Kendra and a moment later he was being lowered to the ground at a fast, but safe pace for descent.

Kendra collapsed beside him as they both met the stone paving of the observation deck and crumbled into a heap. The hawk goddess looked worn out, and she was breathing rapidly from the effort of carrying him. Kepi went over to her rescuer, put a paw on her chest and licked her chin.

Kendra giggled. “You saved the cat too.”

“Of course,” said Rip, between pants for air and winces at his injuries.

Then he looked around him and saw the dead Roman soldiers that littered the ground. He felt his skin go cold.

“She killed them. All of them?” he asked. “Where’s Hermias?”

Kendra gave a nod of her head towards some jars of oil that had been stacked awaiting their move to the top of the tower, and the heads peaking up behind them.

“He was sensible and hid,” said Kendra. “We found him behind the jars of oil that the soldiers had brought up. I don’t think she’d even realised that he was there.”

Rip let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god.”

“Rip, she killed the entire garrison,” said Kendra, her eyes showing only sadness. “All five hundred of them.”

All those men, and they hadn’t been able to stop her. Rip dropped his head in acknowledgement of the horrible loss of life. The soldiers had probably thought that this would be a quiet, cushy assignment, and he doubted that they deserved to die in this manner. Zodiac couldn’t have considered them to be a serious threat.

Rip straightened, and looked upwards. The entire top of the tower was enclosed in blackness now. The light was almost invisible. If any ships were trying to use it as a guide then they would be in trouble. The docks of Alexandria were notoriously dangerous to navigate.

“Did you bring all of the oil up?” he asked, looking towards Hermias.

“No,” said Hermias, his voice wavering, “we didn’t have time before the woman came.”

“You can’t burn the tower,” said Kendra, as she got to her feet again. Kepi sat down, having lost her object of affection and began washing herself.

“I know,” said Rip. “It’s supposed to stand for another few hundred years. That wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Then what?” asked Kendra.

“There is a building that is supposed to burn,” said Rip. “The library’s book deposit warehouse at the docks.”

“No,” said Soeris, who had edged out of her hiding place to look up at the tower. “You can’t burn books. They’re priceless and some of them aren’t even copied elsewhere!”

Rip let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, but it has to happen at some point, and I think we could use it to our advantage.”

“You need to trust us, and give us the book. You can see now that you can’t keep it with Zodiac after you. She’ll keep killing until she has it,” Kendra said, backing Rip up.

Soeris’ eyes took in the dead soldiers, and briefly closed for a moment. She pulled her son close to her and hugged him.

“Mama!” Hermias complained, but Rip knew that the complaint would go unheeded. If he’d been in her position then he might never have let go of his son again.

“Very well,” she said, looking up at Rip. “I cannot very well speak against a goddess and her companion.”

Soeris handed the scroll to Rip

“Thank you,” said Rip, and he meant the thanks sincerely. “Now, we should get you and Hermias somewhere safe.”

There was a crash from above.

“Come on,” said Kendra, and the four humans, one of whom carried a cat, dashed down the stairs of the Pharos.

Rip didn’t look back, he knew they were moments away from Zodiac following them, but when the scream began it put a new impetus in his steps. Zodiac was injured and angry. He was in so much of a hurry that he nearly ran into Sara, Mick, Ray and Firestorm as he exited the ground floor of the lighthouse.

“Rip!” said Sara, “we were coming to help you. What the hell happened here?”

“Zodiac,” said Rip, breathlessly.

“Do you have a cat in your toga?” asked Ray, looking at Kepi’s ears as they poked out of the fold of Rip’s toga.

“Yes, Ray, and she just saved my life,” said Rip, stroking Kepi’s head, “we don’t have time for me to tell you the full story. We need to get that cart full of oil to the book warehouse.”

“Okay,” said Sara, “what’s your plan?”

“We lure Zodiac inside and burn the lot to the ground,” said Rip. “But we need to get Soeris and Hermias somewhere safe first.”

“I can take them to the Waverider,” said Kendra. “I’ll come back and help as soon as they’re safe.”

“Take Ray with you,” said Rip, “I don’t think anyone should be out here alone tonight in case this doesn’t go according to plan.” He brought Kepi out of his toga and handed her over to Kendra, an operation that elicited a loud meow of protest.

“I could take the scroll back to the Waverider,” suggested Kendra, but accepted the cat with no comment.

“Unfortunately we need it as bait,” said Rip. “She has a time sphere. She’ll chase us through the ages if she has to in order to get this, and she’s already demonstrated that she has no problem with killing anyone who gets in her way.”

He could see more bodies of dead Romans all along the causeway back to the city. Kendra had been completely correct when she said that Zodiac had killed every single soldier in the garrison. Every body had a single wound in the centre of their chest. It might be assumed that it was from a sword, but Rip thought he knew better. Given what Zodiac’s shadows had done to him, he was certain that they could be made into pointed weapons. The soldiers hadn’t stood a chance.

There was a crack of thunder from above, and lightning squirmed across the across the sky between gathering clouds.

“You’re sure this is going to work?” asked Sara.

“Not in the slightest,” said Rip, “but do you have a better idea?”

She shook her head. “Let’s get this done then.”

Mick jumped up into the driver’s seat of the cart. About two thirds of the oil was left in the back of the cart, and it left room for Sara and Rip to climb in the back as Firestorm had already called shotgun. Mick cracked the whip and the horses broke into a trot and then a canter as he urged them on. Rip saw Kendra pick up Hermias in her arms and Ray took Soeris and they set off, flying across the city towards the Waverider as the sun went down.

“I thought you might need this,” said Sara, pulling out Rip’s revolver from her waistband.

She had changed into her white leather suit, and he had no doubt that his gun wasn’t the only item of weaponry that she had on her. She carried her staff in her hand, ready to use.

Rip went to take the gun as he usually would hold it, but his broken fingers immediately protested, and so he accepted it with his other hand. He’d have to shoot left handed, it wasn’t his best side, but he was still competent.

“No lecture on period appropriate weapons then?”

“I think we’re somewhat past that given Mr Rory’s continued use of his heat gun,” said Rip.

“What happened to your hand?” asked Sara.

“Zodiac broke my fingers,” said Rip. “She was somewhat insistent that I should tell her where the scroll was.”

“Ouch,” said Sara, “I guess you’re going to medbay as soon as we’re back then.”

Rip nodded. He’d already worked that one out, but he had more pressing concerns at the moment.

They had made it the short distance down the causeway and onto the dockside. Now, he just had to remember which warehouse was the one that burnt down. He spotted it a few moments later.

“That one!” he shouted, pointing. “That’s the book warehouse.”

“Grey is not down with this plan,” Jax shouted back. “He’s pretty pissed with you right now.”

“I don’t like burning books anymore than he does,” said Rip, as they pulled up at the warehouse, the horses complaining at being asked to stop so sharply. “But this is destined to happen, and we’re just doing it a few days early.”

They began to unload the oil jars from the back of the cart. The warehouse had been locked up, but Mick easily broke down the door, and they rolled the jars inside, one at a time.

“Sara, lookout duty, we need to know that she’s on her way,” said Rip. “I have no wish to be trapped inside a burning room for the second time today.”

Sara acknowledged with a dip of her head and Rip watched as she used the edge of the cart to give her a leg up to climb up the side of the warehouse. He wasn’t quite sure how she managed the feat with no foot or handholds, but she was on the roof moments later.

“Just how are you planning to avoid that?” asked Jax. “The burning room bit?”

“Get her in position and then run like hell,” replied Rip.

“You could just give me the scroll. I’m fireproof,” said Jax.

“And also _on fire_. She wouldn’t come anywhere near you,” said Rip. “Likewise Mr Rory, whereas I am apparently an easy target. No, we need to trap her in here, which means that we need the fire to surround her, so Firestorm, you must come around behind her once she has arrived.”

Jax nodded. “We understand, and we’ll be ready.”

Mick was beginning to pour the oil out onto the shelves of scrolls. Rip wished he could have spent some time here actually reading these books, but alas it was not to be. The smell of lamp oil began to fill the room as he too opened the jars and made sure that the scrolls were well covered. The structure was built with timber and topped by a terracotta roof. It was a large open space, split up only by wooden shelves, and was full of old papyrus that would burn extremely well. As soon as a light was put to this place it would burn like a dry field.

“Hey, English, how close does the magic scroll have to be for her to sense it?” asked Mick.

“I don’t know,” said Rip. “But she has done quite a good job of tracking it so far.”

Mick was looking over the other scrolls in their racks. He’d taken a couple out and seemed to be reading the contents.

“We don’t have time to engage in recreational reading, Mr Rory,” said Rip.

“Hey, big black cloud coming our way,” shouted Sara.

“Thank you, Miss Lance!” Rip shouted back. “I’d suggest that you come down from there now.”

Sara jumped down in a manoeuvre that Rip was fair certain would have broken his back if he’d tried it. Mick grabbed the scroll out of Rip’s hand, and handed him a different one.

“What are you doing?” asked Rip. “I need the Pytheas book.”

Mick just tossed a third scroll to Sara.

“Ever played “keep away”? This is something Snart taught me. “Keep away” but with three copies of the thing you want,” said Mick.

Rip understood now. “Good thinking, Mr Rory. Now, please, all of you, the scroll is not worth your life. When I tell you to leave, you do it, without hesitation.”

“That goes for you too, Rip,” said Sara.

“I will be right behind you,” he said. “Jax! Are you ready? Stay out of the way until she’s here, then you and Mr Rory can burn things to your heart’s content.”

“Got it!” Jax shouted, and found a hiding place by the door.

The black cloud landed outside the warehouse, and Zodiac didn’t hesitate to tear down the already broken door in order to enter. The three Legends stood in the middle of the room with Rip at the centre of the trio, holding his scroll under his right arm, and his revolver held in his left hand. He aimed it at their attacker.

“You are trying my patience, little man,” said Zodiac. “I am not a player of games.”

“If you want the scroll, then come and get it,” said Rip. “You will not take it without a fight.”

“You are all so predictable,” said Zodiac, and the shadows began to stretch outwards.

Rip fired his revolver, but the shadows seemed to simply absorb the bullets.

“Now!” Rip shouted.

Both Jax and Mick sent plumes of flame towards the nearest pile of books, creating a circle of fire that ran around the building as the oil caught light. Zodiac screamed and ran at Rip. He threw his scroll into the flames and dodged out of her way as she tried to grab for it. He couldn’t really hold it properly in any case, so that made thing much easier.

He watched as Zodiac got a little too close to the flames and her skin seemed to immediately blacken and turn into something scaly, dark green, and inhuman. Her flesh dropped away from her face to reveal a monstrous mask underneath. She had been corrupted by the terrible forces that she wielded.

“Hey, ugly,” said Sara, “over here!”

Zodiac put a hand to her face, trying to cover the damage and turned to see Sara waving the other fake scroll at her a few metres away. Rip was beginning to notice that she could only maintain her shadow powers whilst she concentrated, and at the moment she was not. He fired on her with his revolver again, and this time she reacted. It wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for, the blasts still seemed to do little damage, but it was enough. He just needed to keep her distracted for long enough that the fire could take hold.

The woman lunged at Sara, and now she was chanting something. Rip found the air cooling and his heart sank. Zodiac punched out at Sara, and Sara ducked turning the movement into a kick, which Zodiac avoided with unnatural poise.

“Rip, Grey says that if she drops the temperature enough then the fire will go out,” said Jax, from behind him.

“Is the warehouse properly alight?” he asked.

Jax nodded.

“Then we need to burn her while she’s distracted,” said Rip.

Jax nodded and sent a flame towards Zodiac. It stopped short and appeared to go out, as if there was an invisible barrier around the woman. Jax moved closer and tried again. Mick had his heat gun aimed at Zodiac and he too fired but found the same problem.

“What’s wrong?” asked Rip.

“Grey says she’s too cold,” said Jax. “It must be something magical.”

“It was the spell,” said Rip. “She chanted something and then this began.”

“If we can’t burn her…” said Jax.

“Then we find another way,” said Rip, levelling his gun at Zodiac’s head again.

There was a creaking sound from above and a burning beam fell downwards making everyone jump away. The building was coming down around them, and Zodiac showed no sign of stopping. She picked Sara up by her neck and unceremoniously threw her out of the warehouse and into the water of the harbour. Sara had no time to even try to grab hold of anything as she sailed through the air.

“Shit,” said Jax, “I’ve got her!”

Jax flew away to rescue his teammate. This was not going well.

Zodiac was now opening the scroll that Sara had held and finding it to be wanting, she discarded it. Mick grinned a nasty grin.

“You want this, bitch? Come over here, I want to have you close when I kill you.”

Mick tossed the scroll to Rip, who barely caught it in his good hand. Mick opened fire with his flame gun, aiming it above his target. It seemed to have the desired effect because the beam above Zodiac cracked and then broke in two, crashing to the ground on top of the sorceress.

“Told you it would work,” said Mick, turning back towards Rip. “Let’s get out of here.”

The debris shook and Zodiac rose up, now with skin that appeared to be blackened by soot and had red veins running across it. The cold area was moving outwards from her and the fire around them wasn’t burning as well as it should.

“Bloody hell,” murmured Rip.

Jax had fished Sara out of the harbour but she didn’t look like she’d be able to get back into the fight. Mick was holding himself as if he was thoroughly affronted that Zodiac wasn’t dead, and Rip was running out of plans.

“Fall back!” he shouted. “We can’t win this here.”

He couldn’t hold the scroll and fire his gun, although he tried, but his shots went wide. Then a shout from above made him look up. All he saw was the outline of wings in the sky against the fire, and then Kendra was bringing down her mace on Zodiac’s head.

The hawk goddess landed and began chanting the moment her feet touched the ground. Her eyes were bright red, and shining with power. It was an ancient language that she was speaking, one that Rip didn’t know but sounded halfway familiar to him. It occurred to him that was probably because it had roots in Ancient Egyptian and the demotic that his translator nanites were programmed for would pick up at least something from it. He had also heard it before, mumbled by Soeris back when she’d first seen Kendra’s wings. He realised now that it wasn’t just a prayer but a spell of protection, one that took on a great deal more power when spoken by a two thousand year old reincarnated hawk goddess.

Something strange was happening because it was as if the flames were rising around them again and the cold was dissipating. Zodiac took half a step back and nearly stepped into the ring of flames, but the hem of her dress caught the fire and it began to burn.

“I damn you, Isis!” shouted Zodiac, “and curse you. I will not end this way.”

“I broke your protection spell, you’re out of time. I know you of old, Set. You’re not getting the scroll or the power it would have brought you. This land is under my protection!”

Kendra swung her mace one last time.

“And leave my family alone!”

Zodiac dropped to the ground and disintegrated into dust amongst the flames.

“Go!” shouted Rip, “everyone out! Now!”

For once everyone obeyed his command without question.

***

They took the scroll back to the Waverider, where Soeris and Hermias had been waiting anxiously for news. Gideon had kept them entertained and they had seemed to take the discovery of a spaceship in their stride. Kendra supposed that Soeris had been right when she’d spoken about Egypt being a land of magic, and therefore not much surprised a woman like her Gramma.

Rip discussed the possibility of removing Soeris’ and Hermias’ memories with Soeris, and she agreed that it would be dangerous for Hermias to remember a spaceship. However, Soeris made a vehement request that she be allowed to keep her memories if she agreed that she would never speak of the incident to anyone. Rip gave in surprisingly quickly and seemed to take her at her word, which surprised Kendra a little.

Kepi refused to leave the Waverider. She attached herself to Rip’s shadow and absolutely would not go anywhere else without yowling and scratching. This had proved a little awkward whilst Rip was confined to the medbay, having cracked ribs, deep tissue bruising, and a broken hand repaired, but it got even more so when it came time for Soeris and Hermias to leave.

“I’m truly sorry,” said Rip. “I don’t know why she’s become so attached to me.”

Soeris laughed. “You saved her life. You could have let her fall and you didn’t. She already liked you, but I think you’re stuck with her for good now. Don’t worry there are plenty more cats that need good homes. Hermias and I will miss Kepi, but she belongs to you now, and we will find another cat to keep down the mice.”

Kendra smiled at that and hugged her Gramma.

“Thank you for teaching me the prayer,” said Kendra. “It’s been so long, I’d forgotten it.”

“You just needed a reminder,” said Gramma. “You’ll never forget who you are in your heart, and your heart is Egypt.”

They dropped the two Alexandrians back at the lighthouse, and gave Hermias the required pill to wipe his memories. He fell asleep in his mother’s arms, and would remember nothing after he came home that afternoon. Kendra didn’t really like it and she could see that Rip didn’t either, but it was the way it had to be for everyone’s safety.

When the Waverider was back in the timestream, Kendra found Rip in the parlour. He was still supposed to be taking things easy, but Kendra didn’t think those words were in Rip’s vocabulary. He was instead poring over the book, examining it with a magnifying glass, while Kepi slept on her newly fabricated cat bed on the top of Rip’s bureau. The former Time Master was wearing a grey t-shirt and black jeans, an outfit that he rarely wore these days. Usually he preferred a smarter white shirt with his black jeans, and at least a jacket.

“Any luck?” she asked.

“Not yet,” replied Rip, setting down the magnifying glass. “Gideon is already producing a full translation, but it may take her a few hours to properly optimise it. I doubt we’ll be able to disentangle the code quickly, and I’m not even sure if we should be following the instructions in the text in some way or looking for a hidden cypher. Martin has offered to give me a hand, but this may be a job for a linguist or historian or… someone who isn’t me.”

Rip sighed and sat down heavily in one of the leather armchairs. He reached for the decanter and a glass.

“You never told me what this was a treasure map to. What is the Meros?” asked Kendra.

Rip poured a glass of whiskey and looked into his drink as if all the answers might be found there. When he spoke it was hesitantly, although he became more definite as he continued.

“I’m still not certain, but I believe that it is something known as the “Starheart”. It is an orb that contains the residual energy of the Empire of Tears from a magical war fought millennia ago. I suppose it’s the equivalent of nuclear waste, but for magic. It was sent into the heart of a star and it stayed there until the sun died. It then travelled across space until it fell to Earth some time during the Neolithic period. Various people have tried to harness its power, but no one has ever succeeded or even discovered its location before now.”

“We’ve dealt with magical artefacts before. Is it really that much more powerful?” asked Kendra.

“Yes, and it isn’t good power, it’s corrupting and evil and very probably indestructible,” said Rip.

“Maybe we should tell John Constantine, ask him if he knows anything about it?” suggested Kendra.

Rip vehemently shook his head. “No, John must never know that I’ve located this, or even a clue to its location. He’d want to try to use it to fight his battles and it would end up destroying him. The temptation to a magic user would be too much. It’s better if I deal with it, but to do that I have to find it first.”

Rip stared off into space, his eyes unfocused. Kendra found herself picking up a glass and pouring her own measure of whiskey even though it wasn’t really her drink.

“They reminded you of your family, didn’t they?” she asked, gently.

Rip’s eyes flicked up to meet hers and he let out a long exhalation of air.

“Yes, and how could they not? Soeris was an intelligent woman, a scholar, and a force to be reckoned with. Hermias… Hermias was the same age that Jonas would be now and probably just as much trouble to his mother as Jonas was to Miranda,” said Rip. “Grief is a very long process. It never really ends, I think. It just changes that way that it manifests, and today it chose to see the similarities between a family in Alexandria and my own.”

He sipped his whiskey. Kendra was unsure what to say, so she remained silent.

“I would like to have stayed there,” Rip said, as if he was admitting something utterly unthinkable. “With them.”

“Then why didn’t you?” asked Kendra.

“Because that isn’t my journey. I still have a job to do here, and I suspect that like grief, this job never really ends either,” said Rip. “But maybe one day I’ll be ready to let others take it over and perhaps then I’ll find somewhere like that to call home.”

“I’d have liked to stay too,” admitted Kendra, “but I can’t go back. That was my life and I loved those people, but they are my past. It’s time to move on. I need to make my own life.”

Kepi got up, stretched and trotted across the floor to jump up on Rip’s lap. Rip immediately positioned his legs to make the best bed for her and began to stroke her with his free hand. Kendra slightly marvelled at how Rip just did what the cat wanted so easily.

“Indeed, all of us need to remember that. I really can’t complain too much,” said Rip. “Not when I got a cat out of this particular adventure.”

Kendra smirked.

“We both know that cat got _you_. Sorry, Rip, but you’re hers now.”

Rip held out his glass for Kendra to clink hers against it, and then took a long sip.

“I hope she’s very happy with her decision,” he said. “I know I am.”

Kepi started to purr.


	2. Historical Notes

Historical notes:

I’ve done my best to be accurate with dates in this one. Julius Caesar was in Alexandria in 47AD and he reportedly spent some time with Cleopatra, who then bore him a child she called Caesarion. Caesar had come to Alexandria because he was fighting a civil war against his former fellow Triumvir, Pompey. Pompey had sought refuge in Egypt, but instead Ptolomey XIII (Cleopatra’s brother/husband and, formerly, co-ruler) had him murdered at the instigation of his advisor, the eunuch Pothinus. He then presented the severed head of Pompey to Caesar thinking this would make him happy.

It didn’t.

Instead, Caesar supported Cleopatra in a war against her brother which culminated in the Siege of Alexandria in 47AD. Ptolomey XIII was reportedly drowned whilst trying to escape and his younger sister, Arsinoe, who had supported him was taken back to Rome to be marched out in the tribute parade. It is reported that Arsinoe walked in chains behind a burning effigy of the Pharos lighthouse. She only escaped death because the spectators felt sorry for the dignified young woman and pressured Caesar into sparing her. She lived in exile until Cleopatra had Antony arrange her death many years later.

Plutarch, the tabloid journalist of the Ancient World, reports that Caesar burnt down the Great Library during the battle. He set fire to both his own and Ptolomy XIII’s ships to clear the harbour and many other buildings were casualties of this tactic. But Plutarch loved a good story and exaggerating the facts. Other source don't associate the destruction of the library with this fire. It seems that there was a warehouse in the area of the docks where books for the library were stored, and it was that which burned. There are references to the Mouseion in 20BC and apparently Claudius built an extension to the Library during his reign of 41AD – 54AD. However, it is true to say that the library definitely did decline under Roman rule because they simply didn't patronise its scholarship in the same way that the Ptolomies had.

In summary, the Great Library was not destroyed by fire as is popularly thought, so Rip only gets to burn down a warehouse in this story, and eventually Roman apathy does for one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.

Alexandria had two of the Ancient Wonders of the World within its boundaries, and the other was the Pharos Lighthouse. Descriptions differ slightly on exactly how tall it was, although somewhere between 103 metres to 118 metres is likely, making it about a third of the height of the Empire State Building. What it looked like is also debated, but in general it is agreed that it had three distinct tiers, the lowest was square in shape, the middle was octagonal and the top was round. Some sources say that the statue on the top was Poseidon, others that is was King Ptolomy I Soter or Zeus. Most seem to agree that there were four statues of Triton at the corners of the lowest tier, so to me it makes most sense that Poseidon would get the place of honour, but no one really knows for sure.

Julius Caesar captured the Pharos lighthouse in 47AD as it was essential to controlling the harbour of Alexandria. He placed a garrison there. In his own words:

_“Now because of the narrowness of the strait there can be no access by ship to the harbour without the consent of those who hold the Pharos. In view of this, Caesar took the precaution of landing his troops while the enemy was preoccupied with fighting, seized the Pharos and posted a garrison there. The result was that safe access was secured for his corn supplies and reinforcements.”_

_— Julius Caesar, Civil War bk 3.112_

The lighthouse was constructed some time after 300BC, during the reign of Ptolomy I Soter. It stood until a series of earthquakes damaged it beyond repair and it suffered structural collapse in 956AD. The stones were later removed in 1480 by the Sultan to build a fort on the island where it had stood.

The light itself burned day and night because the smoke was just as useful as a beacon during the daylight. It is likely that the fuel used was olive oil, as that was the most used lamp oil at the time and it created a good deal of smoke when it burnt. Some back of the envelope calculations, unscientifically comparing the Pharos to more modern lighthouses suggest it used about 600 litres of oil a week, which meant at least twenty amphorae of oil were needed to carry the oil for the light. It must have been quite a task to carry so much oil up all those stairs. Even with the lighthouse, archaeologists have found a large number of wrecks around the harbour of Alexandria.

I can’t say whether any of the details about the lighthouse keeper are accurate, but Soeris was an Egyptian name at the time, as was Hermias. Anazainos is from the Ancient Greek for “to tear apart or rip”, so Rip introduces himself with his chosen name, even though it is in a different language. I didn’t find any instances where it was ever really used as a name.

Kepi means “tempestuous” in Ancient Egyptian. Hermias named her when she was a kitten because she was such a terror. She’s mellowed a little since then, but Rip may find that she is still "tempestuous" when she's annoyed at him.


End file.
